MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki met with President Obama for at least two hours on Friday to discuss the instability in the Middle East.

The Iraqi leader requested American assistance in fighting al-Qaeda terrorists in his country on Friday, says the New York Times, saying that the Iraqi government was "mobilizing our people in order to fight al-Qaeda because it's good for Iraq and the Middle East."

Obama and al-Maliki met at the White House for the first time since 2011, the Times says. The two apparently shared some opinions on strategies to minimize the instability and fight al-Qaeda.

The Times reported that the Iraqi government requested aid in the form of Apache helicopter gunships and Hellfire missiles. In addition, the Iraqi government hopes to see increased American intelligence and counter-terrorism support in Iraq.

Some analysts told the Times that some of the "big-ticket items" that al-Maliki discussed are "better suited to lending his government symbolic power in the region than to rooting out al-Qaeda camps."